Moms, are you stressed about dinner?

Cookbook author and TV host Sandi Richard has meal planning solutions

Waterloo Region Record

Morning may have its hassles.

But getting the kids fed, dressed and out of the house is a cakewalk compared to fielding this daily question: what’s for dinner?

One of the biggest stresses facing moms today is figuring out what to cook for that nightly meal, according to a recent survey of more than 1,000 Canadian moms. On average, the survey says, a household’s primary meal planner spends about 48 minutes of their day just thinking about what to fix — even though they’ll only spend about 15 minutes fixing it.

“Dinner has become this unbelievable stress,” says Sandi Richard, cookbook author, former host of What’s for Dinner and Let’s Do Lunch. The food guru is also a mother of seven grown children and spokesperson for Knorr Canada, the company that commissioned the study.

“There’s so much guilt attached to making a nice, nutritious meal.”

That guilt, she says, comes from all the information that pelts moms daily, such as: eat kale, stay away from salt, et cetera, et cetera. It sends moms meandering, confused and planless, down grocery store aisles only to be more confused once they get home with bags of random, expensive ingredients. Bereft, they head for the drive-thru window or open a box of processed chicken fingers.

A majority of Canadian moms (85 per cent) are in the same boat, according to Richard, who has been helping moms fix dinner for many years.

Her advice to get off this crazy ride is to “block out the eight million things you think you’re doing wrong.”

Then, she says, stop thinking about tonight’s meal. Pick a stress-free time to talk to your family about next week’s dinners, leaf through recipe books or pictures and choose five meals everyone’s excited about. Stock the fridge for the week with all of the ingredients.

“Start slow,” she says, noting it’s best to prepare three-component meals, which include a starch, protein and vegetable. “Maybe don’t try something new for a few weeks.”

Once in the groove, apply Richard’s tried and true “one-bite rule” for new foods and recipes. It may mean up to 14 days of dinnertime tantrums, but pleasantly forcing kids to try one bite of each food on their plate pays dividends, Richard assures.

Typically, it is the texture of new foods that is off-putting to children, she explains, not flavour. After several tastings, over time they will develop familiarity to foods with varied mouth-feels.

The one-bite rule has transformed picky eaters, like Richard’s own daughter, an asparagus-lover, who once swore she’d never eat vegetables, into omnivores.

Another good tip, Richard says, borrowing from parenting guru Barbara Coloroso, is not to give into pleas for after-dinner treats if a child hasn’t cleaned their dinner plate. Wrap up their leftovers and offer that to them later on. “When they come back saying ‘I’m hungry,’ you say ‘no problem.’ ”

Other survey findings:

• 60 per cent of Canadian mothers feel they’ve only planned a successful dinner when they’ve made a meal that everyone enjoys.

Eight per cent of moms even say they would prefer scrubbing toilets and six per cent say they would prefer going for a bikini wax over thinking about meal planning.

Almost a quarter of moms feel they could improve their meal planning skills.

• Almost three-quarters of moms say quality time at the dinner table is more important than meal planning.

• 22 per cent of moms start thinking about what to make for dinner days in advance.

• 25 per cent of moms don’t know what they’ll serve until a few hours beforehand.